Often elongated, flexible wire guides are used to gain access to specific inner areas of the body. The wire guide may enter the body through a small opening and travel to parts of the body through body channels. For example, wire guides may be passed through the body via peripheral blood vessels, gastrointestinal tract, or the urinary tract. Wire guides are commercial available and are currently used in cardiology, gastroenterology, urology, and radiology. Once in place at a desired location in the body, wire guides are commonly used as guides for the introduction of additional medical instruments, e.g., catheters.
One design challenge for wire guides is that the wire guide provides minimal force for being advanced through the vasculature of a patient. The wire guide must also provide sufficient tactile feedback in order to allow the interventionalist to feel wire movement. Minimizing the force required for advancing the wire guide through the patient's body while retaining sufficient tactile feedback for feeling wire movement, however, are two properties which for the most part are diametrically opposed to one another. That is, minimizing the force required for advancing the wire guide usually involves a decrease in the tactile feedback from moving the wire guide. Accordingly, further improvements and enhancements for wire guides are desirable.